There are hundreds or thousands of signs and displays and many ingenious devices for supporting a sign in a particular location to accomplish a particular purpose. Not withstanding the enormous effort that has gone into this field, one of the problems which has plagued and continues to plague the sign and display industry is the problem of storage of signs when they're not in use and, in conjunction with the need for storage, to provide signs and sign stands which can be moved about easily and set up or dismantled for storage easily.
The problem of moving and storing signs presents a severe economic burden on some industries where the signs are taken down and erected frequently or moved about frequently. For example, in merchandising, it is often desirable to erect the sign in the front of the store or on the sidewalk in the morning and take it down in the evening, or to move it about, depending upon where the point of principal interest is. In construction, it is often necessary to place signs at particular locations to mark a hazard, for example, and to move these signs about frequently and to store them on occasion, as hazards are created and removed. In highway construction, it has become a major cost in the overall construction to provide signs and markers which will warn motorists of construction or a particular hazard or circumstance ahead in the highway. All of these problems cry out for a sign and a sign stand which are easily portable, easily stored in a minimum of space, and are easily erected and folded up for storage or for movement.
The traditional older prior art indicates a common usage of solid base sign stands, such as heavy circular bases, or heavy rectangular frames. These, of course, present serious difficulties in moving.
In spite of the many efforts to solve the economic and practical problems which are so extremely evident to those in the art and to those who rely upon portable signs for warning the public or otherwise, fully satisfactory solutions have yet to be provided.
One of the features of this invention is in the provision of a sign stand and a sign which is easily dismantled for storage and for movement, which occupies a minimum of space in storage and is easily and quickly erected for display.